Climb Thailand, Koh Phi Phi, Deep Water Solo, DWS, Bouldering

Climb Thailand - Koh Phi Phi

Remembering the devastation brought over Ko Phi Phi by the Tsunami in December 2004, many rock climbers wonder if it is still possible to climb on Koh Phi Phi. Yes, it is and please do consider going there, the Ton Sai side is fixed up really well, all the way down to long beach. There are lots of restaurants open, grocery stores, dive shops, and bars – Hippies, Apache, Carlito’s Reggae Bar, etc. Most of the clearing and rebuilding has been done by volunteers as well as locals who have returned from Krabi.

Birthplace of Rock Climbing in Thailand - Koh Phi Phi

Koh Phi Phi is the birthplace of rock climbing in Thailand. The first rock climbers came here in the 1980s to open new Thailand rock climbing routes. However, being in love with Thai limestone is still far from understanding Thai limestone. On Koh Phi Phi all rock climbing routes were developed with regular expansion bolts. The bolts rotted so fast and so badly that climbers avoided Koh Phi Phi altogether for many years. After Railey continued to be developed with stainless steel bolts, rock climbing became marginalised on Phi Phi. This changed in the year 2000 as a group of climbers started to rebolt old routes on Phi Phi and to open up new climbs as well. Some areas have not seen any rebolting. Do not rock climb on any routes that have not been rebolted. Phi Phi has more routes in the lower grades than Railey & Tonsai. There are currently 41 rebolted routes of which 21 routes are grade 6a or lower and 8 routes graded 6b. Look at Ton Sai Tower and find 22 routes grade 6b or lower. A must-do multi-pitch climb is Happy banana 6c’ on Hin Tak wall, very exposed climbing in a great location, this route is equipped with glue-ins. Harder climbing routes are found on Drinking wall, on which all routes were rebolted in 2005.

Magazine Articles on Climbing in Thailand

Click here for a magazine article on climbing the Thaiwand Wall, Railay, possibly the finest tropical crag in the world. Click here for a magazine article on rock climbing safety and accidents. The bravest climbers in Thailand are the Thai guys who scale rock-faces with primitive equipment to harvest birds' nests. Click here for an article on the bird's nest collectors climbers of Thailand's Andaman coast. Click here for a magazine article about a rock-climbing trip to Koh Yao Noi.